Department of Health and Social Care

NHS: Negligence

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,  if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending eligibility to make claims for the deceased' s loss and suffering to affected people other than the executor in cases of medical negligence.

Will Quince: The Administration of Estates Act 1925 provides that claims on behalf of the estate of a deceased person may be made by their personal representative, such as the executor of a will and grants of probate provide the legal standing to conduct litigation on behalf of the estate. Claims may also be made by certain dependants of the deceased person either under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 for damages, loss of income or service dependency, or the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934, also for damages.

Cancer: Health Services

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the reduced rate of potential cancer sufferers seeing a consultant within two weeks of an urgent GP referral.

Will Quince: The Department committed a further £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund in 2021/22 to increase capacity in elective services, including for cancer diagnosis and treatment.The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’, published in February 2022, contains two targets for cancer care to improve performance for the two-week waiting time. The plan aims to return the number of people waiting more than 62 days to start treatment following an urgent referral due to suspected cancer to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. In addition, 75% of patients who have been urgently referred by their general practitioner for suspected cancer will be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days by March 2024.

General Practitioners: Recruitment

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many trainee GPs in receipt of Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme funds remained in rural areas post-training.

Will Quince: The data requested is not held centrally.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps she has taken to improve the rate of uptake in cervical screening.

Will Quince: In February and March 2022, the ‘Help Us Help You – Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign urged individuals not to ignore a cervical screening invitation and to contact their general practitioner if they missed their last invitation. In some Primary Care Networks, appointments can also be made in any primary care setting, including integrated sexual health clinics and at evenings and weekends. To support further improvements in uptake, an evaluation of the effectiveness of human papillomavirus self-sampling is being made, where individuals take their own cervical screening sample.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of eligible patients who attended cervical screenings in each of the past five years.

Will Quince: The following table shows the number of eligible patients invited for cervical screening, the number of those tested and the percentage adequately screened in each of the last five years. Data for 2021/22 is due to be published in November 2022.YearNumber of individuals aged 25 to 64 years old invited for screeningNumber of individuals aged 25 to 64 years old tested (Millions)Percentage of eligible individuals aged 25 to 64 years old adequately screened2020/214.59 million3.03 million70.2%2019/204.63 million3.20 million72.2%2018/194.41 million3.43 million71.9%2017/184.46 million3.18 million71.4%2016/174.45 million3.18 million72.0%

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Democratic Republic of Congo: Politics and Government

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of progress by the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo in reducing the risk of corruption among senior government officials in that country.

Gillian Keegan: The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office recognises that corruption challenges persist in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and we welcome the DRC Government's commitment to tackle this issue. The UK has supported DRC state capacity building in two key government anti-corruption institutions that control public spending, to reduce the risk of corruption by senior government officials; the Cour des Compres (National Audit Office equivalent) and The Inspecteur General du Finance (IGF, translation: Department of Audit). The DRC has recently accredited 80 magistrates to the Cour des Compres, which increases their capacity to evaluate, judge and sanction on public sector financial mismanagement. The UK supported the Cour des Comptes in DRC between 2015-2018 and lobbied for accreditation of these magistrates. The IGF has also become a more effective and well-funded institution since President Tshisekedi was elected in 2018. Audit reports published by the IGF uncovered illegally allocated logging concessions and corruption in the state mining company GECAMINES. The UK supported IGF in their ability to perform audits between 2015 and 2018. The UK is planning new programming that will support improvements in public financial management including improving oversight of budget implementation in order to continue the UK's support to decrease the risk of corruption in DRC.

African Union

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what funding he plans to allocate to support the African Union in 2023.

Gillian Keegan: The UK and the African Union (AU) enjoy a strong relationship, collaborating effectively across a range of issues and shared priorities. Overall, from April 2018 to September 2022, the UK committed £56.88 million to support the AU's climate, peace and security, governance and trade objectives. In 2023, UK priorities for our partnership with the AU include support to conflict prevention, mediation, electoral observation, the African Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), climate and health. Ministers will make final aid prioritisation decisions in due course, guided by the International Development Strategy.

Cameroon: Peace Negotiations

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he will take to work with partners at the UN and the African Union to support renewed talks between the government of Cameroon and Anglophone separatist rebels; and what steps he is taking to support the full participation of women in peacebuilding in the north west and south west regions of Cameroon.

Gillian Keegan: The UK Government is working with the Government of Cameroon and international partners to help resolve the Anglophone crisis and respond to its impacts, including through development and humanitarian support. We are supportive of dialogue initiatives seeking to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.We continue to call for an end to the violence, alongside multilateral partners like the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. At the UN Human Rights Council in March, the UK pressed for impartial investigations to hold the perpetrators of human rights abuses to account. We have also urged the Government of Cameroon to remain engaged with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.The UK Government's programming in Cameroon is supporting female activists, including our contribution to the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth (WMC) programme. The WMC provides training, advocacy and support to mobilise women participate in peace discussions and dialogue.

Iran: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of Iran signing a memorandum to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; and whether this will have an impact on economic sanctions.

Gillian Keegan: The UK Government is aware that Iran has signed a memorandum to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and is committed to continuing to work with the international community to ensure Iran abides by international laws and norms and is held to account for its destabilising activities. The UK has over 200 sanctions designations in place against Iran including in relation to human rights, nuclear proliferation and terrorism. This includes sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety. The FCDO works closely with the relevant cross government enforcement bodies to ensure the robust implementation of sanctions.

Africa: Immigration Controls

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in Algeria on border control in Africa.

Gillian Keegan: We hold regular discussions with the Algerian Government on judicial and home affairs issues. We also co-operate closely with them on combatting human trafficking.

Hasan Mushaima

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Bahraini counterpart on the case of Hasan Mushaima; and will he make representations to the Bahraini Government on ending his imprisonment.

Gillian Keegan: Officials and ministers have regular discussions with senior Bahraini counterparts on human rights, including most recently at UNGA where Lord Ahmad met with the Bahraini Foreign Minister. We continue to follow and discuss the case of Hasan Mushaima and others, as necessary, with the Bahraini Government as well as with the independent oversight bodies.

Department for Work and Pensions

State Retirement Pensions: Cost of Living

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment has she made of the potential merits of (a) lowering the state pension age and (b) increasing state pension payments in line with rises in the cost of living.

Alex Burghart: Work is underway on the second Government Review of State Pension age which, under the Pensions Act 2014, must be published by May 2023. This Review will consider a wide range of evidence, including findings from two independent reports, to assess whether the rules about State Pension age remain appropriate. The Government has committed to implementing the Triple Lock in the usual way for 2023/24 and the remainder of the Parliament.

Jobcentre Plus

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what methodology her Department uses to determine the allocation of Jobcentre Plus (a) resources and (b) staff to each local area in the UK.

Victoria Prentis: The Department continually reviews the service being offered to customers. Staff numbers, including the number of work coaches, and demand for Jobcentre services are reviewed on an ongoing basis, in line with the latest economic and Universal Credit forecasts. Jobcentre demand and supply are modelled down to a site level, taking into account local factors such as staff attrition and estates capacity, alongside overall affordability considerations across DWP Service Delivery.

Home Office

Members: Correspondence

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the correspondence of (a) 9 June, reference MY30876 and (b) 3 August, reference MY31701 from the hon. Member for Bedford constituency.

Tom Pursglove: I apologise for the delay. UK Visas and Immigration, MP Account Management team responded on 11 October 2022.

Visas: British National (Overseas)

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is still her Department's policy that eligibility for a British National (Overseas) visa will be extended to people born to at least one British parent in Hong Kong after 1997 in October 2022.

Tom Pursglove: On 24 February 2022, the Government announced in a Written Ministerial Statement a change to the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route, which will allow adult children of BN(O) status holders born on or after the 1 July 1997, who are currently unable to apply for the BN(O) route independently to do so. The statement is available at: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.The change is currently scheduled to come into effect this Autumn, at which point further information will be published on GOV.UK.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 September 2022 to Question 53567, how many Afghans have arrived in the UK under Pathway 2; and on which dates they arrived.

Tom Pursglove: The UK has now welcomed its first arrivals under ACRS Pathway 2 from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and we will resettle many more people through it in the coming years.The Home Office will include Afghan resettlement statistics in its quarterly Immigration Statistics publications in due course.

Asylum: Temporary Accommodation

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any unaccompanied minors seeking asylum are living in contingency accommodation sites.

Tom Pursglove: The UK is experiencing an unprecedented increase in the number of people making life-threatening journeys to cross the Channel. These boats are often carrying unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) and this has placed unprecedented pressure on the National Transfer Scheme. Out of necessity and with the children’s best interests in mind, we have arranged for them to be accommodated on an emergency and temporary basis in hotels, whilst placements with local authorities are being vigorously pursued. Hotel accommodation is only ever a temporary means to accommodate the increased number of UASC arriving, not a long-term solution. The Home Office is using five hotels to accommodate young people temporarily. Each hotel has a team of support workers throughout the day and night to ensure children are supported, safe and their daily care needs are met. Additional support is provided on site by teams of social workers and nurses. The Home Office have sole occupancy of all hotels where UASC are temporarily accommodated.

HM Passport Office: Staff

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the yearly change was in numbers of staff working in the Passport Office from (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-2017, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-2019, (e) 2019-2020, (f) 2020-21 and (g) 2021-22.

Tom Pursglove: The table below shows the data held for full-time equivalent staffing numbers at His Majesty’s Passport Office on 31 March, for each year from 2015:201520162017201820192020202120224,3764,0593,8793,6803,6203,9473,7044,466

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, reference DL12643.

Tom Pursglove: I apologise for the delay in the department responding to the hon. Member. The Home Office responded on 7 October 2022.

Passports: Postal Services

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports handled by the Passport Office have been lost in the post in each year since 2019.

Tom Pursglove: The data is not held in the requested format.

Biometric Residence Permits

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time is for her Department to issue a biometric residence permit after an application has been approved.

Tom Pursglove: The waiting times for biometric residence permits (BRP) are dictated by the BRP production and delivery processes.We aim to deliver a BRP within 7 working days of the immigration decision. BRPs are produced at the secure delivery facility (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA)) within 48 hours of the production request being made and are collected by our secure delivery partner the same day. Our secure delivery partner (FedEx) aims to attempt to deliver the BRPs within 48 hours of receipt of the BRPs. This equates to a minimum of 5 working days from the date of production request being made, to delivery of the BRP. We have added an additional 2 working days to the timeline advised to applicants to allow us to resolve any production issues.In September, DVLA produced all BRPs within 48 hours of the production request, with 91.1% being produced within 24 hours. In September, FedEx attempted to deliver 99.88% of BRPs within 48 hours.

Seasonal Workers: Agriculture

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to expand the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme and include within it Labour Market Enforcement's resourcing and work plans.

Tom Pursglove: The Seasonal Worker route was extended into this year, with 38,000 visas available, to support our farmers growing fruit and vegetables as they adapt to changes in the UK labour market. The Government is keeping the position under close review and I hope to say more on this matter in due course.The Government spends £33 million a year on state enforcement of employment rights. This covers national minimum wage, employment agencies, gangmasters licensing and modern slavery related to worker exploitation.

Passports: Applications

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase levels of staffing at HM Passport Office to help tackle the backlog of applications following the covid-19 outbreak.

Tom Pursglove: His Majesty’s Passport Office has added 1200 additional staff since April 2021. The increase in staffing delivers against both the capacity plan for this year, and in preparation for 2023. These staff have helped to process passport applications in record numbers, and recruitment will continue to ensure that attrition is covered so that it remains fully resourced.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many referrals from the UNHCR to the Afghan Citizens Referral Scheme under Pathway 2 have been (a) received, (b) refused and (c) approved; and how many have people have arrived in the UK via this route.

Tom Pursglove: Under Pathway 2, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) refer refugees who have fled Afghanistan to the scheme, based on their assessments of protection needs and vulnerabilities.We are pleased to have now welcomed the first arrivals to the UK under ACRS Pathway 2, and we will continue to welcome many more people as we receive further UNHCR referrals.Resettlement figures for the ACRS will be published in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, which will allow progress to be monitored transparently.The Home Office will include Afghan resettlement statistics in its quarterly Immigration Statistics publications in due course.Under Pathway 2, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) refer refugees who have fled Afghanistan to the scheme, based on their assessments of protection needs and vulnerabilities.We are pleased to have now welcomed the first arrivals to the UK under ACRS Pathway 2, and we will continue to welcome many more people as we receive further UNHCR referrals.Resettlement figures for the ACRS will be published in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, which will allow progress to be monitored transparently.The Home Office will include Afghan resettlement statistics in its quarterly Immigration Statistics publications in due course.

Biometric Residence Permits

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people with lawful right of abode are (a) currently waiting for a biometric residence permit card and (b) have been waiting for that card for more than 6 weeks.

Tom Pursglove: The information is not held in the requested format.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Civil Servants

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many civil servants worked on assisting businesses with EU trade matters in each of the past three years.

James Duddridge: As the Department for International Trade (DIT) has many initiatives to assist businesses in trading with the EU and beyond, it is difficult to provide exact numbers of staff who have assisted businesses. However, we do have staff in our Export Support Service (ESS), which acts as a single point of access for exporters through a digital enquiry service. We also have over 300 International Trade Advisers (ITAs) supporting small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) across England to build their exporting capability. Finally, DIT Europe Region has approximately 300 staff in 40 offices across 33 countries.

Trade Agreements

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the letter from the Minister for Investment to the Chair of the International Arrangements Committee of 19 May 2022, how many sitting days' notice his Department would require for a debate on a new free trade agreement.

James Duddridge: The scheduling of Parliamentary business is not a matter for the Department for International Trade. The Government has made clear it will seek to facilitate requests for debates on free trade agreements, subject to the availability of parliamentary time. The Department for International Trade will continue to work with colleagues across Government to support effective scrutiny of Free Trade Agreements.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Digital Technology: Regulation

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Government response to the consultation entitled A new pro-competition regime for digital markets, published on 6 May 2022, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals on powers for the (a) Digital Markets Unit and (b) new regulatory regime.

Damian Collins: The new pro-competition regime will remove the obstacles to competition and drive growth in digital markets, delivering lower prices for UK families, and giving consumers more choice and control over the services they use online.The Draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill was announced as part of the Queen's Speech 2022 and will be published as soon as parliamentary time allows. Arrangements for pre-legislative scrutiny will be decided in due course.